Safety razor



Oct. 3, 1939. M D BROCK 2,174,617

SAFETY RAZOR 4Filed Sept. 28, 1936 BY 7 l @rclams Patented Oct. 3, 1939UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in safety razors.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of asafety razor having novel means whereby the blade is secured in theoperative position in the blade holder.

Another object is the provision of a convenient means whereby the bladeis released from the secured operative position.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of blade andblade holder having guard teeth so constructed that the blade whenreversed end for end in the holder presents those portions of thecutting edge which had been in l5 alignment with the guard teeth topositions intermediate the guard teeth.

Anotherobject of the invention is the provision of a safety razorwherein a planar blade is so positioned in the holder as to be readilyaccessible for cleaning without removal from the holder.

Other objects are economy and simplicity of construction, ease andconvenience of operation, and adjustability of the parts to insure theuse of the entire cutting edge of the blade. Y

With these and other objects which will appear during the course of thespecification, in View, reference will now be had to the drawing, where-1n Figure 1 is a front elevation of a safety razor embodying thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the razor shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan View of the blade holder with theblade secured in the 3.5 operative position.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line V--V of Fig. 3.

40 Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line VI-VI of Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a plan View of the blade detached.

The blade holder I preferably made of a single piece of sheet metal,comprises a U-shaped 45 head I2 and a handle I4 extending outwardly fromthe front wall thereof. Without deviating from the invention, the handlemight be made of a different material and conveniently attached to thehead member. The U-shaped head mem- 50 ber comprises two resilient endwalls I6 which are interconnected by a front wall I8. The end Walls I6are normally in substantially parallel relation and each isy providedwith an outwardly extending ledge 20 adapted to form an off-set 55 wall22 against which the blade is adapted to rest as hereinafter set forthand shown. This Wall 22 may be under-cut as clearly shown in Fig. 4 topreclude upward movement of the blade.

The free ends of walls I6 are adapted to receive a spreader bar 24therebetween by means of 5 which the end wall may be spread apart. Theend portions of the spreader bar are recessed to form tongues 26 and 28which span the neck 30 of the outwardly disposed projection 32 at thefree extremity of each end wall respectively. 10 'Ihese projections 32are ofi-set outwardly to form inclined Walls 3d over which the endsurface of spreader bar 2li rides as it is oscillated about its' minoraxis to force the end walls apart for reasons hereinafter set forth. Thetongue 26 rests l.) in the notch 3S while the tongue 28 may, bysufficient force, be caused to move along the arcuate edge 38 until itmeets the stop 39.

Carried by each of the end walls I6 intermediate projection 32 and wall22 is' an inwardly pro- 20 jecting lug 4i] adapted to over-lay the endportions of the blade, as shown, to prevent it from moving away from theblade holder.

As clearly shown in Fig. 7, and in other views, blade fill is preferablymade of a substantially 25 rectangular piece of resilient sheet metalhaving similar notches 46 formed in each corner thereof to form endtongues 43. Blade 44 may have a single cutting edge 50 along one of itslongitudinal edges or it may have a cutting edge at each of its 30longitudinal edges as shown in the drawing. When the two cutting edgesare provided as shown, the spreader bar 24 serves to protect the backedge when the blade is in the operative position. When a single edgeblade is used it is apparent that the spreader bar might be omitted andthe blade holder made simpler. However, in such a structure it would benecessary to either flex the blade into position or remove the bladefrom the holder, or the end walls might be forced apart manually withoutthe use of spreader bar 24.

The front wall i3 of the blade holder is provided at its upper edge witha series of equally spaced apart guard teeth 52. The guard teeth 45 areso positioned relative to the cutting edge of the blade and the end wallthat when the blade is reversed end for end in the holder those portionsof the cutting edge formerly in alignment with the guard teeth will bepositioned intermediate said teeth. By so arranging the guard teeth itis evident that a greater portion of the effective cutting edge of theblade may be positioned intermediate the guard teeth to facilitateproper use of all portions of the blade.

Positioned centrally of the cutting edges of the blade is a notch 54which is adapted to be engaged by a tongue 5t carried by the front wallI8 of the holder. The tongue 56 is olf-set at its under surface to forma stop 58 to receive the inner wall of notch 54 for limiting the forwardmovement of the blade,- also the outer free end of tongue 56 overlapsthe blade 44 to prevent its movement upwardly from the holder. With thetongue and notch positioned centrally of the blade and blade holder asshown, the blade may be reversed end for end in the frame and the tonguewill always engage the notch. In the case of a double cutting edge anotch 54 is provided at each edge of the blade and these notches are inalignment so as to properly register with the tongue regardless of whichcutting edge is being used.

To insert the blade in the holder the outer edge of spreader bar ismoved downwardly, thereby forcing the end walls a suiiicient distanceapart to permit the blade to be positioned with the tongues resting onthe end walls I6 between wall 22 and lug 40. By raising up on the outeredge of bar 24 the resilient end members will resume their normalposition and the lugs 45 will be positioned to overhang the end portionsof the blade to secure it in the operative position. The tongue 56 willalso. overlap the blade to preclude any outward movement of the bladeduring the shaving operation.

The blade 44 may be exible or substantially rigid, however, it has beenfound best to make the blade of a thin resilient material which may beflexed to facilitate to a certain degree the position of the blade inthe holder and its removal therefrom.

Referring to Fig. 5, it will be observed that the end walls togetherwith the blade and front wall form an inverted receptacle for thereception of the soap as it passes through the slot formed between theblade and the guard teeth, The shaving material so deposited during theshaving operation may be easily removed and the razor blade cleanedwithout removing the blade from the holder. No obstructions areencountered on the underside of the blade between the cutting edges. Thespreader bar 24 in certain instances, and especially when a blade with asingle cutting edge is used, might be eliminated.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be fsecured by Letters Patent is:

1. A razor comprising a blade holder having resilient end wallsconnected together by a front -wall and terminating adjacent the rearedge of the blade carried thereby; an overhanging lug adjacent the freeend of each of said end walls adapted tc normally secure a cutting bladein said holder; and means adapted to engage the the operative position;and a bar interposed between the free ends respectively of said endwalls to the rear of said blade operable to force apart said end walls.

3. A razor comprising a blade; a blade holder having means for securingthe blade in the operative position; a series of equally spaced guardteeth formed in the front wall of said blade holder, said teeth being sopositioned relative to the cutting edge of the blade whereby when theblade is reversed in the holder those portions of the cut- H ting edgeformerly in alingment with the teeth will be positioned intermediatesaid teeth.

4. A razor comprising a blade; a blade holder having a front wall andmeans for securing the blade in a predetermined operative position; aseries of equally spaced-apart guard teeth formed in said front walladjacent the cutting edge of said blade, the opposite end teeth of saidseries being positioned at different distances from their respectiveadjacent blade ends whereby when the blade is inverted that portion ofthe blade formerly in alignment with the teeth will be in alignment withthe spaces intermediate the teeth.

5. A razor comprising a blade; a blade holder having resilient end wallsconnected together by a front wall and terminating respectively atpoints to the rear of the blade carried by said holder, a lug adjacentthe forward portion of each of said end walls adapted to limit theforward movement of said blade; an inwardly projecting lug carried byeach of said end walls adapted to engage opposite ends respectively ofsaid blade to secure it in the operative position; and a spreader barpositioned between said end walls operable to force said end walls apartto release said lugs from said blade.

6. A razor comprising a blade; a blade holder having spaced-apart,substantially parallel resilient end walls connected together by a frontwall, a lug adjacent the forward portion of each of said end wallsadapted to limit the forward movement of said blade; an inwardlyprojecting lug carried by each of said end walls adapted to engageopposite ends respectively of said blade to secure itin the operativeposition; and a spreader bar, positioned between said end walls, at therear of and in substantially planar alignment with said blade, operableto force said walls apart.

MAYNOR D. BROCK.

